By Joe Tatulli
As I started to prep for the trip to Canada in June I thought a lot about hydration. Could be cool but its also could be hot. The weather, as you know, can be tricky to predict. In the past I had used a backpack style hydration system but that was a pain. It had to be taken off almost every time I stopped and it also blocked the back vent of my Aerostich jacket. Not the best option. I started searching online for an alternative kit. There are some new products on the market now that weren’t available five years ago including vests and waist or “fanny” pack devices designed mostly for long distance runners. I looked at them all and settled on the OGIO Ripper 1.5L Lumbar Hydration Pack.
There are a lot of different styles to choose from but the OGIO had pushed all the right buttons. It wasn’t the cheapest but at $89.99 with free shipping it was at the lower end of the spectrum. Several of the units I looked at were in $150.00-$200.00 range. Why so much? I have no clue. The OGIO also had the only (at the time) insulated pouch for the water bladder, and that held 1.5 liters of water, almost a half-gallon. The other thing about the bladder that I liked was the fact that it was tethered to the unit with a velcro tab to hold it in place. The good news is it all worked as advertised. The unit also had two small zippered pouches built into the straps, and a larger pouch in front of the bladder compartment. All this with easy access to the zippered pouches as well as a simple bungee cord rig outside for stuffing gloves, and in my case a “Care Bear” installed by my riding buddies (see gallery) outside a WalMart in Nova Scotia headed to Yarmouth, NS.
The idea was to wear the pack as designed, around my waist, but when I took it for a quick test drive a week before our departure date I decided to try something more creative. Why snap it on and off when I could attach it to my wonderful Valentina and let her do most of the work. There was a sweet spot just at the bottom of the windshield and just above the headlights that might just work. I had to shorten the straps quite a bit and then weave them in behind the windshield and in back of the custom HORNIG GPS mount, and somehow snap the straps together. I was also able to use some Velcro strips to fasten the handle on the bag to the lowest points of the windshield to help hold it in place at speed, and with the intended use as a waist pack the water tube was long enough so that it just rested in front of my tank bag. I took this configuration out for a quick test drive on RT95 near my home and it worked like a champ. I was ready to go.
I made a couple of small adjustments over the next few days to tighten things up a bit and used this kit for the whole trip. There were a couple of very hot days on the trip; one on Cape Breton Island while riding the Cabot Trail at 93°, and the last day riding home from Maine where we hit spots where the temperature was 95° plus. That water was a huge blessing at those moments since I really wilt in the heat.
So that’s my story. The OGIO Ripper 1.5L Lumbar Hydration Pack gets my 5 STAR review – Highly recommended.
